1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to liquid crystal displays. More particularly, the present invention relates to a backlight assembly for liquid crystal displays.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a liquid crystal display apparatus displays an image using optical and electrical properties of liquid crystal. The liquid crystal display apparatus has various advantages, such as light weight, low power consumption, low driving voltage, etc., in comparison with a display apparatus such as a cathode ray tube, a plasma display panel or the like. Therefore, the liquid crystal display apparatus is widely used in various electrical industries.
The liquid crystal display apparatus typically includes a liquid crystal display panel to display an image using a light transmittance of the liquid crystal, and a backlight assembly to provide the liquid crystal display panel with light.
The backlight assembly is commonly classified as either an edge illumination type backlight assembly or a direct illumination type backlight assembly, depending on the positions of light sources employed within the backlight assembly.
The edge illumination type backlight assembly includes a light guide plate, a lamp adjacent to an incident portion of the light guide plate, and a receiving container to receive the lamp. The light guide plate controls a path of the light incident through the incident portion and provides the light to the liquid crystal display panel.
The direct illumination type backlight assembly includes a plurality of lamps disposed under the liquid crystal display panel, a receiving container to receive the lamps, a diffusing plate disposed between the lamps and the liquid crystal display panel, and a reflecting plate disposed under the lamps. The diffusing plate diffuses light emitted from the lamps and light reflected by the reflecting plate, and the light diffused by the diffusing plate is provided to the liquid crystal display panel.
The direct illumination type backlight assembly further includes a supporter to support the diffusing plate and to separate the diffusing plate from a bottom face of the receiving container. The supporter has a lamp supporting portion to guide a receiving position of the lamps and a diffusing plate supporting portion to support the diffusing plate. In general, the lamp supporting portion has a U-shape, and the diffusing plate supporting portion has a conical shape.
However, when an impact is applied to the diffusing plate, the diffusing plate supporting portion does not absorb its energy well. As a result, the impact is applied to the lamps via the supporter, often breaking them. Further, since the diffusing plate supporting portion has a conical shape, the diffusing plate supporting portion scratches the diffusing plate, and noise is generated between the diffusing plate and the diffusing plate supporting portion.